A foreign currency exchange transaction at VP Bank in Ha Noi. The country is expected to attract US$12.1 billion in overseas remittances this year. — VNS Photo Truong Vi

HA NOI (Biz Hub)  — Viet Nam's overseas remittances in 2014 are expected to reach US$12.1 billion, making the country one of the top 10 overseas remittance recipents.

Viet Nam Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Industry and Trade (Vietinbank) announced the information at its conference on investors and specialists here last Tuesday.

Vietinbank predicted that the country's gross domestic product this year would reach 5.8 to 5.9 per cent while the consumer price index would remain under control at 3.5 per cent. The momentum of foreign direct investment inflows will also continue for the economy in the future.

Viet Nam's imports for the entire year were predicted to cost $145 billion while exports were predicted to earn $146.5 billion to $148 billion, thereby increasing the country's trade surplus to $1.5 billion.

In addition, the bank predicted overseas remittances to be stable with a 10-per cent growth rate this year. The State Bank of Viet Nam will retain the foreign exchange rate, and the country's supply of foreign reserves will remain sufficient.

Vietinbank also predicted that the banking sector would face difficulties in meeting their business targets in the year-end months and next year.

Interest rates will be slightly reduced to support enterprises' production while banks' liquidity will rise because the mobilising rate will be higher than the lending rate.

The Government bond market is expected to develop because of low interest rates and high transaction amounts.

Regarding bad debts, the bank believed the situation would not improve sharply, especially for restructured debts. It added that current solutions to solve bad debts were not effective, and the issue would be a key concern for banks in the future. — VNS